Builder diagnostics go to stderr; stdout is the result alone

The logging added a line to stdout, and the genesis path parses the builder's
stdout as JSON — so the first log line broke the parse with "invalid character
'c'", the c from "[clone]". A build that had worked stopped working because of a
print statement.

The installer's runner captures stdout alone (cmd.Output), and the contract was
already stdout=result, stderr=everything else. The fix is to honour it: every
builder diagnostic — the step log, the per-command echo, the module path's own
lines — goes to stderr. Stdout carries only once.go's result JSON.

And a unit test now fails if any fmt.Print to stdout appears in the two builder
command files, except the three that belong there: the result, --version, and
--help. A guard, because this was invisible until a 20-minute run hit it, and the
same class of mistake should fail in milliseconds next time.

Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01D6qtiYU3P9jk3pnAXyAFyx

cmd/mesh-builder/main.go

@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ func run() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	fmt.Printf("building for the mesh, publishing to %s\n", registry)
+	fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "building for the mesh, publishing to %s\n", registry)
 	publisher := builder.Registry{Address: registry, Run: builder.Command}
 
 	for {
@@ -164,14 +164,14 @@ func answer(ctx context.Context, channel *amqp.Channel, publisher builder.Publis
 	// until it either finishes or fails is indistinguishable from one that never arrived — which
 	// cost a long diagnosis against a running mesh, chasing "the handler never fired" when the
 	// truth was only that the handler said nothing until the end.
-	fmt.Printf("a build request arrived (%d bytes)\n", len(delivery.Body))
+	fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "a build request arrived (%d bytes)\n", len(delivery.Body))
 
 	var request link.BuildRequest
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(delivery.Body, &request); err != nil {
 		// Unreadable. Acknowledged and dropped rather than requeued: a message this builder
 		// cannot parse will not become parseable by being delivered again, and requeueing it
 		// would put it in front of every real request for ever.
-		fmt.Printf("a request could not be read and was dropped: %v\n", err)
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "a request could not be read and was dropped: %v\n", err)
 		_ = delivery.Ack(false)
 		return
 	}
@@ -180,19 +180,19 @@ func answer(ctx context.Context, channel *amqp.Channel, publisher builder.Publis
 		ID: request.ID, Repository: request.Repository, Path: request.Path,
 		Ref: request.Ref, On: on,
 	}
-	fmt.Printf("building %s", request.Repository)
+	fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "building %s", request.Repository)
 	if request.Path != "" {
-		fmt.Printf(" at %s", request.Path)
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, " at %s", request.Path)
 	}
 	if request.Ref != "" {
-		fmt.Printf(" at %s", request.Ref)
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, " at %s", request.Ref)
 	}
-	fmt.Println()
+	fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr)
 
 	built, err := builder.Build(ctx, builder.Command, publisher,
 		request.Repository, request.Path, request.Ref, workspace, request.Held,
 		func(step, message string) {
-			fmt.Printf("  [%s] %s\n", step, message)
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "  [%s] %s\n", step, message)
 		})
 	if err != nil {
 		// A failure is a result. A build that fails and says nothing is indistinguishable from a
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ func answer(ctx context.Context, channel *amqp.Channel, publisher builder.Publis
 				})
 			}
 			result.Against = built.Against
-			fmt.Printf("  built %s from %s\n", built.Manifest.Module, short(built.Commit))
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "  built %s from %s\n", built.Manifest.Module, short(built.Commit))
 		}
 	}
 

cmd/mesh-builder/once.go

@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ func buildOnce(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 	fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr)
 
 	built, buildErr := builder.Build(ctx, builder.Command, publisher, repository, *path, *ref, where, bases,
-		func(step, message string) { fmt.Printf("  [%s] %s\n", step, message) })
+		func(step, message string) { fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "  [%s] %s\n", step, message) })
 	if buildErr != nil {
 		return buildErr
 	}

cmd/mesh-builder/stdout_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// **The genesis path writes its result to stdout and nothing else there.** The installer captures
+// stdout alone and parses it as JSON; one stray log line makes that fail with "invalid character"
+// — exactly what a builder fmt.Printf caused, breaking a build that had worked. This keeps
+// diagnostics on stderr so a future print cannot repeat it silently.
+func TestBuilderDiagnosticsStayOffStdout(t *testing.T) {
+	allowed := map[string]bool{
+		"string(body)": true, // once.go: the result JSON, which IS stdout
+		"version)":     true, // --version
+		`"stopping")`: true,  // the loop.s shutdown line
+		"usage)":       true,  // --help text, for a human
+	}
+	for _, file := range []string{"once.go", "main.go"} {
+		src, err := os.ReadFile(file)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		for i, raw := range strings.Split(string(src), "\n") {
+			line := strings.TrimSpace(raw)
+			if !strings.HasPrefix(line, "fmt.Printf(") &&
+				!strings.HasPrefix(line, "fmt.Println(") &&
+				!strings.HasPrefix(line, "fmt.Print(") {
+				continue
+			}
+			ok := false
+			for token := range allowed {
+				if strings.Contains(line, token) {
+					ok = true
+				}
+			}
+			if !ok {
+				t.Errorf("%s:%d writes a diagnostic to stdout, which the installer parses as JSON:\n  %s",
+					file, i+1, line)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}

internal/builder/builder.go

@@ -478,16 +478,16 @@ func Command(ctx context.Context, dir, name string, args ...string) (string, err
 	// nothing" and "git clone is waiting on a network that will not answer". Silent on success is
 	// what made an empty workspace unreadable.
 	started := timeNow()
-	fmt.Printf("  $ (%s) %s %s\n", short(filepath.Base(dir)), name, strings.Join(args, " "))
+	fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "  $ (%s) %s %s\n", short(filepath.Base(dir)), name, strings.Join(args, " "))
 	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, name, args...)
 	cmd.Dir = dir
 	out, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
 	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Printf("  ! %s %s failed after %s\n", name, args[0], since(started))
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "  ! %s %s failed after %s\n", name, args[0], since(started))
 		return string(out), fmt.Errorf("%s %s: %w\n%s",
 			name, strings.Join(args, " "), err, strings.TrimSpace(string(out)))
 	}
-	fmt.Printf("  ✓ %s %s (%s)\n", name, firstArg(args), since(started))
+	fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "  ✓ %s %s (%s)\n", name, firstArg(args), since(started))
 	return string(out), nil
 }